The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life
The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life
Presenting twelve breakthrough practices for bringing creativity into all human endeavors, The Art of Possibility is the dynamic product of an extraordinary partnership. The Art of Possibility combines Benjamin Zander’s experience as conductor of the Boston Philharmonic and his talent as a teacher and communicator with psychotherapist Rosamund Stone Zander’s genius for designing innovative paradigms for personal and professional fulfillment.
The authors’ harmoniously interwoven perspectives provide a deep sense of the powerful role that the notion of possibility can play in every aspect of life. Through uplifting stories, parables, and personal anecdotes, the Zanders invite us to become passionate communicators, leaders, and performers whose lives radiate possibility into the world. The lure of this book’s promise starts with the assumption in its title. Possibility–that big, all-encompassing, wide-open-door concept–is an art? Well, who doesn’t want to be a skilled artist, whether in the director’s chair, the boardroom, on the factory floor, or even just in dealing with life’s everyday situations? Becoming an artist, however, requires discipline, and what the authors of The Art of Possibility offer is a set of practices designed to “initiate a new approach to current conditions, based on uncommon assumptions about the nature of the world.”
If that sounds a little too airy-fairy for you, don’t be put off; this is no mere self-improvement book, with a wimpy mandate to transform its readers into “nicer” people. Instead, it’s a collection of illustrations and advice that suggests a way to change your entire outlook on life and, in the process, open up a new realm of possibility. Consider, for example, the practice of “Giving an A,” whether to yourself or to others. Not intended as a way to measure someone’s performance against standards, this practice instead recognizes that “the player who looks least engaged may be the most committed member of the group,” and speaks to their passion rather than their cynicism. It creates possibility in an interaction and does away with power disparities to unite a team in its efforts. Or consider “Being the Board,” where instead of defining yourself as a playing piece, or even as the strategist, you see yourself as the framework for the entire game. In this scenario, assigning blame or gaining control becomes futile, while seeking to become an instrument for effective partnerships becomes possible.
Packed with such examples of personal and professional interactions, the book presents complex ideas on perception and recognition in a readable, useable style. The authors’ combined, eclectic experience in music and painting (as well as family therapy and executive workshops) infuses their examples with vibrant color and sound. The relevance to corporate situations and relationships is well developed, and they don’t rely on dry case studies to do it. Indeed, this book assumes the emotional intelligence and desire to engage of its reader, promising access to the rewards of that door-opening notion–possibility–in return. –S. Ketchum
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Pure inspiration!
Very inspirational, with lots of helpful “practices.” Funny and sincere. Great help in transforming your point of view, if you feel stuck (or if you feel the others are stuck). I’d like to respond to the reviewers who criticized this book for being too facile or slick or old news: if you read a lot of self-help books then maybe you already know most of this stuff, but here it’s presented from an unexpected perspective, with lots of uplifting, real-life examples. There really aren’t many different things that can help you become less neurotic and you probably already know that; the point is to find an approach that will speak to you best. For me it was this book. Thank you very much Mrs. and Mr. Zander! I feel like I literally lifted a heavy burden off my back, the burden being my “downward spiral” attitude and a good dose of Revenge Creature, too. I know I will use practices from this book over and over.
5 Stars I love this book! This is now one of my favorite books to recommend and to give as gifts to friends and colleagues.
I love this book! This is now one of my favorite books to recommend and to give as gifts to friends and colleagues.
Rosamund Stone Zander is a family therapist and painter, and her husband, Benjamin Zander, is the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic - a volunteer Orchestra that is rated among the best in the world, where most of the other orchestras in this league are salaried. Over the years of their professional and personal collaborations, Ros and Ben have developed approaches for reframing challenging situations in positive ways, so that people who might otherwise end up in conflict are able to find their ways to negotiate mutually acceptable and satisfying resolutions to their disagreements.
Simple steps are detailed for re-conceptualizing prickly and knotty issues so that both sides discover ways around apparently insurmountable blocks and discover cooperative, mutually satisfying resolutions to problems. Much of their approach encourages the development of positive attitudes and expectations about dealing with such situations.
Each chapter is richly illustrated with personal anecdotes of how the methods Ben and Ros recommend have been successful in diverse challenging situations. Here are but a few of the many gems from this sparkling book:
An apocryphal story
A shoe factory sends two marketing scouts to a region of Africa to study the prospects for expanding business. One sends back a telegram saying,
SITUATION HOPELESS STOP NO ONE WEARS SHOES
The other writes back triumphantly,
GLORIOUS BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY STOP THEY HAVE NO SHOES.
Ros and Ben point out that when we get our backs up, much of what we assume to be fact is actually a reality that is created in our imaginations. By keeping this in mind, we allow ourselves to open to new possibilities in our negotiations.
A simple way to practice it’s all invented is to ask yourself this question:
What assumption am I making,
That I’m not aware I’m making,
That gives me what I see?
And when you have an answer to that question, ask yourself this one:
What might I now invent,
That I haven’t yet invented,
That would give me other choices? (p. 15)
Reframing one’s situation in a major way:
You define yourself not as a piece, nor as the strategist, but as the board itself, the framework for the game of life around you. Notice we said that you define yourself that way, not that you are that…
When you identify yourself as a single chess piece - and by analogy, as an individual in a particular role - you can only react to, complain about, or resist the moves that interrupted your plans. But if you name yourself as the board itself you can turn all your attention to what you want to see happen, with none paid to what you need to win or fight or fix.
The action in this graceful game is ongoing integration. One by one, you bring everything you have been resisting into the fold. You, as the board, make room for all the moves, for the capture of the knight and the sacrifice of your bishop, for your good driving and the accident, for your miserable childhood and the circumstance of your parents’ lives, for your need and another’s refusal. Why? Because that is what is there. It is the way things are.
You ask yourself, in regard to the unwanted circumstances, “Well, how did this get on the board that I am?” or, “Now, how is it that I have become a context for that to occur?” You will begin to see the obvious and then the not-so-obvious contributions of your calculating self, or of your history, or of earlier decisions that landed you where you are, feeling like a victim. This reflection may bring forth from you an apology that will knit back together the strands of raveled relationships. And then you will be standing freely and powerfully once again in a universe of possibility. (p. 146-7)
This book is very highly recommended for anyone in the helping or managerial professions, as well as for anyone wishing to improve their negotiating skills in their personal lives.
5 Stars Transformations
I absolutely loved this book. It was an eye opener for me and gave me some different perspectives about day to day occurances and how to deal with situations and people better.
1 Stars Imagining a better future
This book aims “to provide the reader the means to lift off from the world of struggle and sail into a vast universe of possibility”. Rosamund is a family therapist and conflict resolution specialist, while Ben is the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, but the book is targetted primarily towards a business management audience.
While some readers might see the book as opening a world of possibilities, others are likely to see it more as a collection of optimistic clichés. The book opens unpromisingly for the jaded reader with a regurgitation of the old story about drawing four straight lines which pass through all dots in a square array of nine dots - this requires drawing outside the square. One of the chapters suggests that you should give every student an “A” for their work in advance, and another suggests that you should take yourself less seriously.
“Like the person who, mindless that she has all of nature in her fingertips, blocks the expression of the life force, so does the musician interrupt the long line of passion when she limits her focus to the expression of personal emotion, local color, or harmonic events.” Some people might find this type of prose inspirational; others would find it turgid. While I found many of Ben’s orchestral anecdotes interesting, the book as a whole did not appeal to me. Perhaps I should have given it an “A” before reading it.
5 Stars Anything is possible
This book has been a double blessing for me. Not only has it enriched my already fairly positive outlook on life, but it has deepened my appreciation for music in profound ways.
I first came to know of Benjamin Zander when my wife (author of Mojo Mom: Nurturing Your Self While Raising a Family) was invited to a lecture he was giving at UNC’s Memorial Hall. Due to some communications snafus, the lecture was very poorly advertised, and the sponsors were trying to make sure there was an audience at all. Despite the limited audience (Zander writes that he is equally enthusiastic when speaking to five people as he is 1500), Zander’s message of enthusiastic optimism and positive tranformation had her calling me on my cell phone before she even got home. And she begged me to read the book, which I did when copies arrived from Amazon.com.
Wow.
I, too was moved by its inspirational messages. Years later, as I prepared to listen to James Ehnes play the solo role in Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky’s always-dazzling Violin Concerto in D Major, op. 35 with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at Roy Thompon Hall, I thought again about the many lessons of Zander’s work and how they are more relevant than ever.
Clearly there is something awe-inspiring about being in the presence of a world-class symphony orchestra. If we imagine that the average player has 20 years of professional playing experience, the 100+ members represent over two thousand years of human experience playing at the highest level. And having read Concert Halls and Opera Houses: Music, Acoustics, and Architecture by Leo Beranek I was also suitably awe-inspired about being in a concert hall like Roy Thompson. But Zander’s preparation gave me an entirely new appreciation for what was possible, and even now as I write this review, my openness to those possibilities was indeed transformative.
This is definitely a book for sharing!
Filed under: Personal Development Book Reviews